List of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts people

This is a list of people from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), a private art school founded in 1805, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the oldest school of this type in the United States. Although it ceased to offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the 2024–2025 academic year, the certificate programs and other instruction continue. This list includes notable alumni, faculty, honorary degree awardees, PAFA founders, school directors, and school presidents.

Notable alumni

Architects and designers

Cartoonists and illustrators

Painters

Printmakers

Sculptors

Others

Honorary degrees

Linda Lee Alter (honorary PhD 2013), art collector Benjamin West (1738–1820; honorary degree 1805), British American painter, first honorary member of the Pennsylvania Academy in 1805

Notable faculty

Painting Thomas Pollock Anshutz (1851–1912), painter, educator; taught c. 1876–1912 Will Barnet (1911–2012), painter of human figure and animals Cecilia Beaux (1855–1942), impressionist portrait artist, first woman to teach art at PAFA, 1895–1915 Hugh Henry Breckenridge (1870–1937; attended in the 1890s), painter, taught 1894–1934 William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), painter, taught 1896–1909 Thomas Eakins (1844–1916), realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and educator Thomas Hovenden (1840–1895), Irish realist painter and teacher Henry Bainbridge McCarter (1864–1942), illustrator, and painter; the first PAFA instructor of illustration, taught 1902–1942 Roy Cleveland Nuse (1885–1975), painter, teacher, taught 1915–1944 Violet Oakley (1874–1961; class of 1896), teacher, illustrator, muralist, writer; taught 1912–1917 Elizabeth Osborne (born 1936), painter, teacher Seymour Remenick (1923–1999), painter, teacher; taught 1977–1996 Christian Schussele (1824–1879), portrait painter, taught 1868–1879 Louis B. Sloan (1932–2008; class of 1957), plein-air painter; first Black full professor at PAFA, taught 1963–1997

Printmaking Martha Zelt, printmaker; taught 1968–1982

Sculpture Charles Grafly (1862–1929), sculptor of portrait busts, known for stone work Walker Hancock (1901–1998), sculptor, teacher; taught 1929–1967

PAFA founders Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827), painter, military officer, scientist, naturalist, founder of PAFA in 1805 Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860), painter, founder of PAFA in 1805 William Rush (1756–1833), sculptor, founder of PAFA in 1805

List of directors and presidents

Directors John Neagle, director, 1830–1831 Peter F. Rothermel, director, 1847–1855 Fairman Rogers, director, 1878–1883 Charles Henry Hart, director, 1882–1902 Harrison S. Morris, director, 1882–1905 George Dunton Widener Thomas N. Armstrong III, director, 1971–1974 John Heman Converse

Presidents Henry D. Gilpin, president, 1852–1859 Edward Hornor Coates, president, 1890–1906 Edward T. Lewis, president, 2007–2009 David R. Brigham, president, 2010–2020 Eric Pryor, president, 2022–present; the school's first Black president

List of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts people

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